


Floodgates

by MiraculousLadydork



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Galra Keith (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Insecure Lance (Voltron), Kissing, M/M, Mutual Pining, One Shot, Oneshot, Pining!Keith, Pining!Lance, idk just read it?, idk man this fic doesn't know what it's trying to be, it got SERIOUSLY away from me, lance gets insecure and upset, oh and keith thinking lance is straight, realising crushes, season two spoilers, so that's funny i guess, the 'oh shit' moment of a crush, then keith breaks down bc blade of marmora, this was supposed to be short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-25 06:27:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9807209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiraculousLadydork/pseuds/MiraculousLadydork
Summary: SET POST SEASON TWO. SPOILERS, DUH.After the events of the last battle, Lance can't sleep. When Keith wanders into his room in the middle of the night, he realises he's not the only one with this problem. He takes Keith to his favourite room in the castle and gets a lot more than he bargained for.- OR -Pining idiots talk about their insecurities/fears, realise they're crushing on the other, get angsty and then make out.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Holy shit guys. This was supposed to be short. I wrote it in like, less than a week, and it's nearly breaking 7k words. I don't know what happened, but I hope you like it.
> 
> This fic really didn't know what direction it wanted to go in; pining Keith or pining Lance, angsty Keith or angsty Lance. So, uh, we have all of it.

Lance sat bolt upright, gasping. He was warm all over, drenched in sweat and tangled in his bedsheets. Gasping for breath, he unravelled himself and swung his legs out of bed, as if he planned to get up. But he stayed sitting on the edge of his bed, waiting for his breathing to slow. Then he ran a hand through his damp hair and fell backwards across the bed, letting the hand that wasn't in his hair fall out to the side.

He'd taken to sleeping with the light on. The darkness and the silence just felt oppressive; the light was like a reassurance that he was still here, still safe in his bed inside the Castle of Lions. Whether the other were safe... well, that's what plagued his dreams, making sleep a faraway concept. He'd managed to make it through the nights so far, but tonight it just wasn't happening. He just kept reliving that moment, magnified. The feeling of helplessness and sense of loss. The silence over the comms. And it wasn't just Shiro, he was seeing it happen to everyone. His best friends, just gone. The lions were drifting away, empty. There was nothing he could do but -

“Stop.” 

Speaking out loud seemed to help. It chased away the thoughts and brought him back to reality, grounding him. He scrubbed his hands over his face, sitting up. Sleep had never seemed so far away. He felt wired, tense. He wasn't going to be falling asleep anytime soon.

He got to his feet and began dressing quietly, planning to make his way to the training room to burn off some of his pent-up energy and stress. He'd buttoned his jeans and was just reaching for his shirt when he was interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

In a moment of undignified panic, Lance squealed and flung his shirt at the intruder, who caught it deftly in their hand, covering their face. Then they lowered their arm, allowing Lance to see exactly who (or even what) had walked into his room when he was supposed to be sleeping.

“Keith!?”

*

“Uh...” Words were not working for Keith right now. Besides the fact that he'd just got caught doing something that could definitely fall under the definition of 'creepy', Lance was awake and Lance was _shirtless_. It wasn't like he'd never seen Lance shirtless before, it was just that all the other times he'd expected it and had at least had the chance to prepare. Not that seeing Lance shirtless was something that he needed to prepare for. Because that would just be weird. Nonetheless, Keith felt his face heating up in a way that had nothing to do with the accusatory tone in Lance's voice, and everything to do with Lance's lean, muscular chest.

“You're supposed to be asleep,” Keith said, finally. The two boys stared at each other for a moment as Keith's words sank in, the colour slowly creeping into both of their faces.

“Wait, no – not like that!” Keith back-pedalled, at the same time as Lance cried “WHAT!?”

Lance immediately launched into some long, rambling speech about indignity and privacy and how 'Keith that's just plain creepy!', with wild arm gestures and a look of over-dramatised hurt on his face.

Sighing, Keith let his eyes drop from Lance's chest- uh, face- sidestepping into the room and leaning back against the wall, bracing himself with one foot. Honesty is the best policy, right? With his head bent like it was, his fringe obscured Lance from sight.

“I can't sleep,” Keith said loudly over Lance's dramatics, cutting him off. He turned to look at Keith, surprised. “I just keep... seeing it again. What if – what if I could've done something? Maybe if I'd have been paying more attention, I could've saved him. And... and what if it happens again, to one of you, in the castle? I-I know it's stupid, but I can't help it. If I sleep, I see it happening, knowing I can't do anything, so at least if I'm awake I can protect you...guys.”

The change in Lance was immediate. He stiffened, staring at Keith in shock, before taking a few short steps backwards and collapsing into a sitting position on the edge of his bed.

“It's not just me...” He murmured, in a voice more vulnerable than any Keith had heard him use before. He seemed to be talking to himself more than Keith, so Keith stayed quiet. He allowed himself to lift his head to look at Lance, who was staring unseeingly at his hands that were braced against his knees. He was still shirtless. Which made sense, really, because Keith still had Lance's shirt hanging limply from his hand. He wasn't sure if he should give it back or not. If he handed it back, Lance would put it on, and Keith was still undecided on whether or not he wanted that.

Then Lance shook his head, like he was clearing thoughts, and glared up at Keith, who flinched.

“That still doesn't explain why you came wandering into my room while I was 'supposed to be asleep'.” He said, frowning.

“Oh, that. Uh...” Keith gave a short cough, “I guess I was checking on you.” 

When Lance continued to stare at him in disbelief, Keith continued. “Despite what you might believe, I don't hate you, Lance. Sure, you annoy me at times, but I want you safe as much as I want any of us safe. Besides, it's what I do when I can't sleep, I check on all of you guys. Just – just in case.”

“Huh. Don't really know what I'm supposed to say to that,” Lance shrugged.

“You're not supposed to say anything? I'm just telling you the truth so you won't think I'm a creep or something.”

“See, now I would love to say that it _is_ creepy, because it's you, Keith,” He said, showing a glimpse of his normal obnoxious self, “But I can't sleep either, for basically the same reason.” His admitted, his voice soft again, “What if I wake up and everyone's gone? I wouldn't know what to do.”

He seemed to realise what he'd said, because he gave Keith a sharp look and said, “Don't tell anyone I said that. I have a reputation to uphold, you know.”

Keith cocked his head, smirking. “A reputation of being an idiot, maybe.”

“Rude.” Said Lance, though there was the hint of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth – not that Keith was looking. “Also, are you going to give me my shirt back or are you going to continue staring at my chest?” Lance said, the smile now a full-blown Lance-grin.

“I wasn't staring,” Keith said, sharply and possibly a little too quickly, as he flung Lance's shirt in his general direction and turned his head away, scowling.

Lance laughed as he pulled his shirt on over his head and stood up. “I'm just messing with you, dude! Right, I was heading to the training room to, well, keep myself busy.” He paused, looking at Keith properly for the first time. While the Red Paladin's thin frame had muscled up a little since Lance had first met him and his black shirt was slightly tighter, he looked thinner and there were dark circles around his eyes; eyes that looked like they had sunk back into his head. And, if possible, he looked paler.

“Hey, are you okay?” Lance asked gently, putting a hand up as if to touch Keith's arm, even though he'd never do that. His expression was soft, concern filling his eyes. He regretted the ridiculous question – he wasn't sure if any of them could be considered 'okay' at this point – but he wasn't sure what else to ask that conveyed the same meaning.

“I'm fine.” Keith snapped, irritably, immediately feeling guilty when he saw the shutters come down over Lance's caring expression and his face harden.

“Well, I'm sorry for caring.” Lance snapped back, “Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got somewhere to be.” He pushed past Keith, and passed through the door into the hallway and stormed off, muttering furiously to himself. Keith groaned to himself, closing his eyes and letting his head fall back against the wall with a thud, putting a hand to his forehead. 

After taking a moment to compose himself, he pushed off from the wall and stuck his head out of the door, looking both ways down the hallway to find Lance. He eventually spotted him at the end of the hall and called after him. Lance ignored him, turning the corner. Keith sighed to himself, and took off in a slow jog after him, calling, “ _Lance!_ ”

Lance was waiting for him just around the corner and pounced as soon as Keith rounded it, scaring him half to death.

“Will you be quiet!?” Lance hissed, jabbing Keith in the chest with his index finger, “You'll wake everyone up!” 

Keith glared at him, offended, until Lance turned on his heel and stalked away. 

“I was coming to apologise!” Keith muttered, knowing Lance could hear him. The other boy's shoulders twitched and he grumbled something in reply, but otherwise showed no reaction and so Keith started following him. It wasn't like he had anywhere better to go, and besides, he was going to force Lance to accept his apology if he had to.

They walked in silence for a good few minutes, through hallway after hallway, round corner after corner, until Keith realised he had no idea where they were going, but it was definitely not the training room.

“Uh... Lance?” He tried, hesitantly. 

Lance ignored him.

“Lance?”

Still nothing.

“Lance, you do know where you're going, right?” Keith tried in a last ditch attempt to get Lance to respond. He could ignore him all he wanted, provided that he didn't get them both lost in the process. It got his attention. Lance pulled up short – Keith narrowly avoided crashing into him – and turned to glare at Keith.

“What?” Lance said, indignantly, “Where _I'm_ going? I was following you!”

“ME!?” Keith spluttered, “But – you were the one who stormed out of _your_ room; I was following you!”

“Yeah? Well who was the one who came barging into _my_ room in the first place, was rude to me when I tried to be nice, and then followed me when I tried to get away from him!? You!!” He turned away from Keith in a huff, folding his arms across his chest. “And you want me to believe you _don't_ hate me,” He muttered.

“I don't!” Keith went instinctively on the defensive, then softened his voice as he saw Lance's shoulders stiffen. ”I just... I don't want to talk about it, okay? And why would I come to check on you if I hated you?” He added, letting a bit of bitterness creep into his voice.

Lance relaxed and turned back around. “You could've just said that, you know. Nobody said you had to be rude about it. I wasn't going to _force_ you to talk, I'm not a total jackass. Come on,” He jerked his head to the left, indicating down the hallway, “I know somewhere.”

Keith followed, grinning. “So, you admit you're a little bit of a jackass?” He teased, gently.

Lance scoffed, “Of course. It's like, my goal in life.”

*

After about five minutes of wandering through the castle halls and climbing countless staircases, Keith finally decided to question Lance's leadership. He had a horrible feeling that they were going round in circles, or at least just getting themselves incredibly lost.

“Uh, Lance? Where are we going?” 

“Somewhere I found when I got lost once. I've been back a couple times but getting there isn't an exact science. You just sort of... do.” Lance said, helpfully, ploughing ahead through the empty corridors.

“Great. I'm already tired, and now I'm lost in the castle with you.”

“Shut up and trust me.” Said Lance, unknowingly echoing some of Keith's first words to him. However, Keith had a fleeting memory of escaping the Garrison with an unconscious Shiro and the rest of – then not yet – team Voltron weighing down their transport. He smiled, reminiscently. Things were very different now, for better or worse.

They rounded a corner, climbed a flight of stairs, and came to a dead end in a low-ceilinged corridor.

“Hey, we're here!” Lance said, pausing and then darting forwards towards a ladder that Keith hadn't previously been able to see. Lance had grabbed the rungs and started climbing up before Keith had even had a chance to move.

“Lance, wait! Where is that going? How did you even find this place!?” By this time Lance had disappeared through the ceiling completely, and Keith was left talking frustratedly with an empty corridor. Keith sighed, rolled his eyes, and began walking towards the ladder, when Lance's head reappeared through the ceiling, making him jump.

“I'll explain when you get up here. Now, will you hurry up already, or do you need a hand?” Lance stuck his hand through the gap, grinning. He seemed to love antagonising Keith, who made a low growling noise in the back of his throat and batted Lance's hand away, grabbing the ladder. The noise made Lance blush for some unknown reason, and he retreated hastily into the room above so that Keith wouldn't see.

The other boy's scowling face appeared through the entry way, “You'd better have a good explanation for – woah.” The scowl was wiped of Keith's face as he took in the room they were now in. Lance was smirking while sitting on a sofa of sorts – there were two in half circles, and Keith had come up in the middle of them – and behind him there was, well, all of space. They had come up in essentially a glass dome, with a 360-degree view of space. He couldn't figure out where exactly on the ship they were, just that it might be somewhere near the top due to all the stairs they'd climbed.

“Lance, this is...” There weren't really words to describe what Keith was seeing at that moment, so he settled for, “incredible.”

“I know, right!?” Said Lance, grinning like an excited child, “I figured there must be somewhere like this – I mean there was in Red Dwarf so why not in a futuristic spaceship castle, too? - so I went looking one day. Pretty sure it was pure luck that I found it, but I don't care, I love it up here. I know it's cliché as hell, but I come up here to think or just to get away from everything.” Keith was pretty sure Lance was babbling by now, but he let him, content to finishing climbing into the room and dropping down onto one of the sofas.

“Thank you, Lance.” He said, the sincerity in his voice silencing the other paladin. He reclined his head to look up at the stars overhead; anywhere but at Lance's gentle smile that seemed to shine just as brightly.

*

As Keith's head fell back, exposing his pale neck, Lance couldn't stop his mind from wondering what other interactions might cause Keith's head to drop back like that, and felt his skin heating up as he stared at the Red Paladin. He looked away sharply, blinking. Since when did he have those kind of thoughts about _Keith_ , of all people? He'd known he was bi for a while now - he'd even had a tiny crush on Hunk back at the Garrison, before the whole Voltron thing – but Keith was something else. Sure, he was attractive, and sure, maybe Lance's original rivalry thing had just been a ploy to cover up the tiniest hint of a crush that had formed on the attractive and mysterious classmate. But he knew Keith now, and didn't think of him like that anymore. Yeah, he _liked_ Keith and wished that they could find a way to talk without arguing about everything, but he didn't _like_ like Keith because that would be weird. Great, now he was thinking about it, which made it even weirder.

“What you thinking about?” Keith asked, softly, and Lance realised that the other boy had been staring at him for a while, and began desperately hoping that his face wasn't as easy to read as he felt like it must be. He felt like the guilt of even entertaining thoughts of that nature about Keith would be written all over his face. Not that he should feel guilty, right?

Lance drew his legs up onto the seat, putting his arms around them and resting his chin on his knees. Wanting to look anywhere but at Keith's face that second, he instead looked up into space. “Do you ever just... think about how _big_ space is?” He asked, impulsively. When he heard Keith's amused snort, he flushed. “No, I mean like, that the universe is so huge, how is Voltron supposed to protect all of it? We're just so... so small in comparison, you know? And sometimes – sometimes I wonder if you guys really need _me_. I-I mean, look at Hunk. He complains he's a bad pilot – which he's not – but even if he _was_ , he's a genius mechanic and a chef and just generally pretty great. And Pidge! Epic tech genius and our hacker. Shiro; awesome and fearless leader. You might be impulsive and reckless, but it's pretty cool and definitely useful. But what about me? I don't _have_ a thing. I'm just a useless seventh wheel. I'm easily the most replaceable of the team, and it wouldn't surprise me if half of you _wanted_ to replace me.” He finished, miserably. Then he looked to Keith with wide eyes. He hadn't meant to say any of that. Sure, that's usually what he came up here to think about, but it definitely wasn't something he planned on sharing with anyone, least of all Keith.

But, to Lance's immense surprise, Keith was staring back at him with an expression of horror etched on his stupidly handsome face.

“You really think that? That you're replaceable? That we would want to replace you?” Keith grappled with this information for a moment, with utterly no idea how to respond. Part of him wanted to instantly dismiss Lance's claims as ridiculous and tell him he was just being stupid, but the way he had made himself as small as possible – no mean feat given the length of his limbs – and the look of self-loathing on his face, made Keith want to be gentle and reassuring. And he had no idea how to do that.

“You're wrong, you know.” He stated, simply. Lance just continued to stare at him, so he ploughed on. “Of course you're important – remember that Blue chose you. Really, what's the chance that we were the first people to come across that cave in the hundreds of thousands of years that she was there? Highly unlikely. But, she activated for you. Not me, not Shiro, _you_. And you saved Hunk when we got separated from the castle, and your shooting is the main reason that we got Slav out, _and_ – if I remember rightly – it was your plan to get us out when the elevator broke by the pool? You've done so much, Lance, even if you don't realise it. Yes, you can be annoying at times, but you help keep people's spirits up by being ridiculous. Shiro and Allura are so serious all the time (and I don't blame them for it), that sometimes they forget that it's good to relax and be silly. Nobody wants somebody else piloting Blue; we've all been through so much together that we're like a family, now.”

Lance still looked somewhat disbelieving, so Keith decided to play his trump card. “Plus, you're kind. I mean, look at me. I'm part _Galra_. Don't you think there's somebody that would have me replaced?”

“Don't be ridiculous,” Lance said immediately, looking offended. “Nobody wants you replaced. You're easily our best pilot, you're brave, daring, and loyal. You're – why are you smiling at me?”

“Because you just proved my point.” Keith folded his arms over his chest and leant back. Keith was now the one smirking, while Lance stared at him, stunned.

“Of course you're important, Lance,” Keith repeated, quietly, “Please don't ever forget that.”

This time it was Keith's turn to be surprised, because Lance's eyes filled with tears.

“I... God, Keith.” Lance said, pressing his forehead to his knees, his voice husky, “You can't just dump something like that on me.”

“W-what? And you're saying you didn't just dump stuff on _me_?”

Lance gave a short laugh into his knees, “Well, you did ask what I was thinking.”

Keith threw up his hands, exasperated, “And I couldn't exactly let you go on thinking something so obviously untrue!”

Lance snort-laughed again, lifting his head to wipe his eyes. Then he smiled at Keith, his eyes shining with the remains of tears and with a smile so genuine and heartbreakingly happy that Keith was momentarily stunned, feeling his heart race increasing.

“Uh... Y-you're welcome.” Keith said, his voice suddenly slightly higher and a little uneven, a smile creeping onto his face.

“You should do that more often.”

“What?” The statement caught Keith off guard, and the way Lance was studying his face made his skin feel hot, and yet he couldn't look away. It felt a little like a train crash; he knew he shouldn't indulge this, that he should just get out now before this can get worse, and yet he couldn't bring himself to move. The boys stared at each other for a moment longer, each feeling the heat of a blush creeping its way up the backs of their necks before Lance finally spoke.

“Smile,” Lance said. “It suits you.”

Yep, there it was. The train crash moment in which Keith realised there was no going back. He was blushing, a small smile on his face, and it felt like there were alarm bells going off inside his head as their eyes locked. Lance had a strange effect on Keith, one that he wasn't entirely sure how to describe, except that it was one that induced smiles, one that made him tongue-tied, one that made him blush too much, one that made his voice soften, one that had his eyes straying to Lance when he wasn't looking and made his voice soften when he spoke to him. It was an effect that Keith never really stopped to consider, largely due to the overwhelmingly crush-like qualities of said effect, and the terrifying notion that if Keith stopped to really think about the how and the why Lance had this effect on him, it would turn out that Keith was crushing hard on the other boy, and that just wasn't possible. So, he continued to ignore it in the hopes that this feeling would eventually realise it was going nowhere, and leave. Because that was totally how it worked.

Lance unfolded his legs and stretched them out. Keith shivered.

“Huh?” Lance snapped to attention, “Are you cold? I forgot you didn't have your jacket.”

Before Keith had a chance to react and tell Lance that he wasn't cold, he was just trying to ignore an ever-pressing crush, Lance was on his feet and moving towards him. While Keith was sitting down, the Blue Paladin towered above him, and he felt his stomach flip as Lance dropped down next to him, pressed his hot arm against Keith's own. He shivered again at their touch, feeling like he'd just received an electric shock straight from Lance's arm. He was becoming increasingly convinced that his animosity towards Lance was just misdirected affection; it was easier to make snide remarks and mean comments than it was to accept the fact that he actually had a crush on the most obnoxious guy on this side of the galaxy.

Feeling the second shiver as he sat down, but otherwise oblivious to Keith's inner turmoil, Lance laughed. “You can borrow some of my heat. My family always said I'm like a human furnace.”

In a desperate and not at all well thought out plan to distract himself, Keith turned his face towards Lance and asked, “Do you miss them?”

The smile dropped from Lance's face, “What?”

“Your family,” Keith said, his voice shaky as he realised exactly how damn close Lance had positioned himself, “Do you miss them?”

“What kind of question is that?” Lance quipped, raising an eyebrow. Keith had to force himself to look away. “Of course I miss them. I miss them every day, so much that I generally try not to think about them because otherwise it hurts. I wonder what they think – I disappeared suddenly from the Garrison with my crew members, on the night an alien ship appeared overhead and we were supposed to be on lockdown. I can't imagine what that did to them.” 

Having seen that Keith was no longer looking at him, Lance had allowed his eyes to stray back to the view above them, and Keith was now looking at Lance from out of the corner of his eyes and from under his fringe, so as not to attract the other's attention. His heart was hammering in his chest and his palms were starting to become sweaty inside his gloves. _This is the 'oh shit' moment, isn't it?_ He thought, wryly, closing his eyes. _I just have to face it, I have a huge freaking crush on this guy and have had from pretty much the moment I met him._ As he admitted it to himself, there was a small explosion of warm feeling inside his chest, and his hands twitched in his lap. He pressed his palms into his thighs so as not to reach out and put a hand on Lance. _Oh God, this is real._

He was so caught up in his own thoughts that he'd failed to realise that Lance had stopped talking and was now looking at Keith, concerned.

“Keith?” Lance was asking, craning his head around to try and look at Keith's face. “Keith, are you okay? You're shaking.” He paused. “Do you miss your family?”

Keith snorted, “ _My_ family?” His eyes began to burn. “I haven't seen my dad in years, my mother is a Galra, and Shiro was the next closest thing to family that I had and now he's gone.” He tried blinking away the stinging feeling, and instead his vision began to blur. His hands clenched into fists, pressing down into his thighs as he leans forwards, shaking with the effort of holding back tears. 

There was a noticeable change in the atmosphere of the room. Lance wasn't sure what to do; he'd already said more than he intended to, so he was more than happy to listen to Keith, but he's just stunned that Keith is talking about it. He'd always seemed so stoic and bottled up, but Lance supposed that he was bound to give at some point. He just hadn't expected Keith to unload on _him_. He'd expected it to be Shiro, but with him gone he probably would've said Hunk. Not Lance. He wasn't sure if he should feel flattered that Keith was trusting him, or worried.

“Keith...”

“I never really said about really what happened down with the Blade of Marmora, did I?”

Lance baulked. No, Keith hadn't wanted to talk about it. He'd told them he'd gone through a series of battles until he finally 'awoken' the blade, revealing his Galra heritage.

“Keith, you don't have to-” But Keith was looking at him now, tears shining in the corners of his eyes, his mouth set in a hard line and yet still quivering.

And then Keith was off. The words pouring out of his mouth about everything he'd faced, Shiro's hologram, the talk with his father, the choices offered to him.

When Coran had announced that the Red Lion had started attacking, Lance had been worried, borderline terrified. He'd imagined a hundred scenarios in which Keith had been in enough trouble to set Red off. But this, this he hadn't imagined. He'd thought it had just been a test. A hard test, sure, but only psychically, not as mentally taxing as it sounded. But the way Keith was describing it, it was like Keith's worst nightmares come to life.

Lance wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around Keith and make sure no harm came to him ever again. This definitely wasn't how you felt about your friends, but Lance momentarily sidelined that thought, instead focusing on the problem in front of him. Not that he would consider Keith a problem by any means, but he couldn't just sit and stew in his own thoughts while Keith was baring his soul. 

In a strange way, it was nice to see. Keith constantly made out to be this tough, immovable wall of a man, always able to shrug off whatever came his way. But for Lance, who used his bravado as a way to cover his insecurities, he'd always suspected it might be a front. They were similar, in this way, and it made Lance feel closer to Keith, with an ache in his heart that he thoroughly had to confront.

*

It had been like opening floodgates. Everything had come pouring out, and eventually, the flow of words came slowly to a stop. Keith doubled over and slid to the floor, sitting on his knees with the heels of his palms pressed to his eyes in a desperate attempt to stem the flood of tears. He hadn't meant to let it all go like this, he hadn't wanted to burden Lance with his problems. But once he'd started, he simply couldn't stop it.

Then suddenly there were hands around his wrists, peeling his hands from his face. Keith watched as the pair of tanned hands guided his pale ones down, resting them on his knees.

Lance was kneeling in front of him, leaning in so close that Keith could feel his breath drying the tears on his face. Lance's eyes were wide, full of concern and searching Keith's face in a way that made him struggle to catch his breath. God, Lance was gorgeous. Why had he never admitted this to himself before?

“Keith,” Lance said, and Keith felt his bangs flutter with Lance's exhale. “It's going to be okay.”

Lance tilted his head, forcing Keith to make eye contact with him. _God, his eyes are incredible_ , he couldn't help thinking, as Keith inclined his head forwards and closed the short gap between them, pressing their heads together. Keith's bangs tickled his forehead, but he didn't mind. He could feel the heat from other paladin's short breaths, and his heart gave an involuntary lurch. 

“We'll find him,” Lance was saying, even though his thoughts had just spiralled off somewhere else, “We'll find Shiro, and we'll bring him home. None of us are going anywhere, Keith. We'll find Shiro, and then if you want we'll find who you really are. But remember this; it doesn't matter to us if you're human or Galra. You. Are. Keith. You are the Red Paladin of Voltron, and that is enough for all of us. That's enough for me.”

At some point while he had been talking, Lance had run his hands up Keith's arms, over his shoulders, and grazed his fingers up the side of Keith's neck to cup Keith's head with his hands, his thumbs gently moving back and forth over his cheekbones. Keith's had closed and he'd shuddered involuntarily, working hard to suppress the aroused groan that rose in his throat.

As Lance held Keith's head against his own, he realised he had never considered Keith just a friend. There had always been something else, something different. Something more. But back at the Garrison it couldn't and wouldn't happen; Keith hadn't been remotely interested in him. So, he'd turned it into a rivalry, a way of disguising his feelings so deeply that even he would forget about them. But kneeling on the floor in front of him, so close that he could see the jewel-like drops of tears still clinging to individual lashes, he couldn't deny it anymore. Lance didn't just have a crush on this boy, he was borderline in love with him. A terrifying and dangerous revelation to have when you're that close to the person, but Lance's thoughts were nothing if not inconsiderate.

Keith sniffed, jerking his head slightly as he did so, and their noses bumped together. A feeling of electricity passed over both of them, and they froze, breath catching in their throats, eyes locked together, noses still touching. They'd been forehead to forehead before, but this was different. This was more intimate.

Keith's eyes dropped first, going straight to Lance's mouth. Something stirred in the pit of Keith's stomach as it hit home exactly how unbearably close they were, and he bit his lip. Keith could make out every detail of Lance's lips. His heart was beating so fast he was convinced Lance could hear it, but he didn't move. He couldn't. Lance was straight. Lance flirted with every girl he saw. No matter how badly Keith wanted this, no matter how much he ached to close the space between them, Keith could not have this.

Lance momentarily squeezed his eyes shut. Keith biting his lip while this close to him was definitely something he could have done without seeing. He knows what he should do. He should open his eyes, let go of Keith's head, lean back, and crack a joke. And that's probably what he would have done, if Keith hadn't flicked his eyes back up to meet Lance's. Said eyes were looking purple in the dim light, half-lidded, and considerably darker than usual. The look was so intensely lust-filled Lance struggled to control his own building arousal. He had to stop this, now. 

Almost involuntarily, Lance angled his head. All Keith would have to do is close the gap.

The second Lance moved his head, Keith was lost. Slowly, shakily, Keith leant in and pressed his lips to Lance's.

The reaction was immediate. Lance's gasp was audible but Keith was beyond caring. His whole body was on fire as he pushed hard against Lance's open mouth, almost toppling them both backwards onto the floor. Lance just about saved them, matching Keith's passion and propelling them upwards. They were no longer sitting on their heels but kneeling, their bodies pressed flush together. Keith's arms encircled Lance, drawing them as close as he could manage. Lance's hands had tangled in the hair at the base of Keith's neck, pulling him closer and kissing him more deeply. Keith could taste the salt of Lance's sweat, and something else. Something sweet and delicious and entirely _Lance_.

Their mouths moved together in fierce harmony, soft and wet, amid gasps and low moans as Lance rolled Keith's bottom lip between his teeth, pulling his head backwards by his hair. Keith surrendered, allowing his head to drop back and bare his throat to Lance, who got to indulge earlier fantasies of pressing his lips to Keith's neck. 

Keith's hands fisted in the material of Lance's shirt as Lance kissed his way up Keith's neck, grazing the skin with his teeth and pausing now and then to suck hard on a patch of skin, in a way that Keith was sure would leave a mark. But he didn't care. The adrenaline was pumping hard in his ears and he clawed at Lance's back, pressing their hips together as he groaned, long and loud. Lance was breathless, gasping between kisses, leaving a trail all the way up to the base of Keith's ear. As he rolled Keith's earlobe between his teeth, he considered how long it had been since he'd kissed somebody quite as exquisite as Keith.

Keith turned his head, desperate to taste Lance's lips again. The tension between them burned up in one fast, fierce explosion, with groans and gasps, frenzied hair pulling and shirt grabbing. Their bodies were hot and minds cloudy, unable to get enough of each other. 

Keith's hands were gripping Lance's hips so tightly that his fingers had forced the shirt up and Lance could feel the callouses of Keith's fingers biting into his hot skin. If not for the adrenaline and lust coursing through him it probably would have hurt, but as it was it only added fuel to Lance's heady arousal.

After what could have been hours but was probably only minutes, they finally broke apart, breathless, practically gasping for air.

Lance's hands were still tangled in Keith's soft hair, and Keith's pale face was flushed scarlet, sweat beading underneath his thick fringe.

“God,” Lance breathed, his voice low and husky, “That was something else.”

“Tell me about it,” Keith answered, throatily, and Lance's eyes fluttered shut for a few seconds to regain composure. 

“We should..”

“Yeah.”

They both seemed reluctant to leave, but the finally got to their feet and made their way out of the room, feeling drunk and giddy.

Keith waited for Lance at the bottom of the ladder, and they made their way down the corridor side-by-side, the backs of their hands brushing together.

“I feel like I should clarify something,” Lance said, after they'd walked in silence for a few minutes.

Keith said nothing, but inclined his head to let Lance know he should continue.

“I'm bi,” Confessed the Blue Paladin after a moment's pause. “I mean, I'm sure you'd guessed by now, but-”

“I hadn't, actually,” Keith admitted, cutting Lance off before he could start rambling. “But if I'd known that, this is a whole lot easier.”

“Huh?”

“Dude, you were kissing me like that and I was convinced you were _straight_. What part of that might possibly be hard for me?” Keith laughed, and Lance noticed the difference in the Paladin from their journey to the 'Space Room'. He seemed more relaxed, the lines of tension gone from his body.

Lance smiled, pleased that their moment had had lasting effects on the other boy.

“What are you smiling about?” Keith asked, raising one eyebrow and still grinning.

“You,” Lance said, grinning back, bumping into Keith with his hip and threading his fingers through his. Keith's grin widened, and he lightly squeezed Lance's hand.

*

They arrived back at Lance's room in comfortable silence. Neither of them had said anything; they hadn't had to. They'd been too busy enjoying the other's presence and reliving their memories. But now they were back in the hallway where it had all started, they found they were reluctant to leave.

“Well...” Keith rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, unwilling to relinquish Lance's hand.

But Lance smiled at him in a manner that could only be described as _seductive_ , and tugged on Keith's hand, causing him to stumble towards him.

“Come on,” Lance said, leading Keith backwards into his room, “We can talk tomorrow.”

They passed through the door, hearing the soft hiss as it closed behind them. Keith wasn't entirely sure what Lance's plan was, but they crashed together the second the door was shut, moving together towards Lance's bed.

There was less desperation in the second kiss, it was slower and deeper, like blending together. The back of Keith's knees hit the edge of Lance's bed and he went down, dragging Lance with him by the front his shirt. 

But instead of continuing they pulled apart, collapsing together on the bed. Talking and understanding would come later, clumsy and awkward confessions of heavy crushes and love-like feelings, fluttering stomachs and shy smiles, sweet kisses... it all could wait. For now, they were content to just be, allowing a deep and peaceful sleep to take them both in the first time for a while.

And that's how Coran found them the next morning; lying fully clothed on top of the duvet, Keith on his back with his arms around Lance who was pressed up against his side.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! Writing kisses is not my strong suit, so let me know what you think? Or don't, I'm not the boss of you.


End file.
